Two UK firms are joining forces to turn waste food into a biogas that can be pumped directly into the domestic and industrial gas mains. Doncaster-based Prosper De Mulder has been revealed as the first customer for an industrial scale Totara upgrader, made by Chesterfield BioGas, based at Meadowhall in Sheffield. Prosper De Mulder is reported to be the UK’s biggest processor and recycler of waste food from ‘farm gate to dinner plate’. The company processes some animal products to make dripping, lard, oils and other food ingredients and makes key ingredients for pet foods. It has also found a use for food waste that is being disposed of by business ranging from large supermarkets to small cafes because it hasn’t been used, has become unsaleable or has been left over. In the past, that sort of waste would have ended up in landfill sites, but, according to the company, Prosper De Mulder’s ReFood subsidiary has been pioneering the use of anerobic digesters that turn the waste into a fertiliser, rich in nitrates, phosphates and potassium and generate biogas. At first, the company fed the biogas directly into generators that produced electricity for the National Grid. Now it has asked Chesterfield BioGas to install an industrial scale upgrader at its ReFood plant in Widnes.
